CNET:
One of the parental-control apps removed from the App Store fired back on Wednesday at Apple’s explanation of why the app was banned.
OurPact argued that its app should be reinstated and should be allowed to use technology that enables parents to control what their children access on their Apple devices.
OurPact published a blog post Wednesday that disputed Apple’s statement. The company laid out a detailed record of communication with Apple (for instance, on Oct. 6: “Apple removes the OurPact child app from the App Store without any prior communication.” OurPact also sought to explain what MDM software is by contradicting Apple’s recent statements with the iPhone maker’s own documentation about the technology.
The truth, as is usually the case, is likely somewhere in the middle.
Question is… What does Apple have to gain by banning these types of apps? NOTHING. Apple doesn’t make any money from it. They are not competing with these 3rd party apps. Use of Screen Time is completely voluntary, so there’s no reason to force Apple’s and only Apple’s app on its end users.
I don’t think there’s any real contradiction here. Apple’s saying MDM can be misused and become a gross breach of privacy. OurPact is saying they didn’t misuse it.
Apple’s correct, and as platform vendor they shouldn’t allow it.
OurPact may also be correct, but Apple can’t guarantee or even verify that.
OurPact Pretty clearly laid out where Apple’s PR statements contradicted their own documentation. Also, if MDM shouldn’t be used on children’s devices, should they pull the use of MDM for the Apple Classroom use case?
Apple’s MDM system is open to this kind of abuse. Apple should stringently enforce it. MDM provisioning seems to be a thrown together solution to assuage IT in mass deployment. perhaps this should be rethought.
Perhaps banning these apps likely reduces the number of support calls from users who may have been compromised by their misuse.
By banning MDM apps, Apple both avoids being part of a major privacy scandal and doesn’t gain a reputation for having completely toothless rules.
Edit: I didn’t even include it’s the right thing to do for users.